What if Shepard Knew?
by TheForgottenSoldier
Summary: Commander Shepard breaks the fourth wall and now knows about the ending he faces in Mass Effect 3...He's not going to stand for it.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: This is my first Mass Effect fic. While not serious, it's a warm for my more dramatic Mass Effect fics. **

**There have been a lot of differing opinions on the Mass Effect 3 ending, except from one person: Commander Shepard's…**

**The main character of this story is simply known as "the player" (Myself) the one controlling Commander Shepard. **

* * *

**Turning the Tables**

The player sat in his gaming chair, once again watching his Shepard rise up to meet the Catalyst. He groaned. This was where the ending took a serious turn for the worst. Before, he accidently choose the Control ending, thinking it was Paragon because it was blue. (He wasn't paying attention to the Catalyst's dialogue at the time) The player really meant to choose Destroy, despite the fact that it will destroy all synthetics; even the Geth that were now united with the Quarians and EDI.

The Catalyst shows up on screen, walking near his Shepard: Brejon Shepard. He was a Paragon with a little bit of Renegade to people he didn't like. He was African America with slick black hair and brown eyes, with a 5 o'clock shadow. He kept Kaiden alive, romanced Tali, and destroyed the Collector Base. He cured the Genophage, (but forgot to disarm the bomb, leaving a very pissed off Wrex) and took down Cerberus Headquarters.

Now the player's Shepard was going to have to go through this terrible ending.

_"Brejon Shepard deserves better!" _the player thought.

Little did he know that he was about to witness something incredible…

"Wake up," the Catalyst said in a childlike voice, looking over Shepard.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Shepard groaned. He picked himself off the cold floor, giving a death glare to the Catalyst.

The player was confused. Shepard didn't say that the last time he played. That wasn't even a dialogue option.

"I do not understand," the Catalyst said.

"Like hell you don't. With your flawed "keeping the peace" plan. Reapers? That's your plan for peace?"

"It is an efficient solution to stop the conflict between organic and synthetic."

"How the f*** is this helping?" Shepard points to ships being destroyed by Reapers. "And this whole harvesting thing? Who the hell are you to say to us we can't keep our own form, just because you think organics will never end the war with synthetics? I united the Quarian and the Geth. Which by the way, I will not screw the Geth over and destroy them . Better yet, why couldn't this Crucible just be a weapon that kills Reapers, instead of this bullshit?"

Shepard continues, "And can someone please tell me why my only dialogue options are for me to except whatever the Catalyst says despite how incredibly stupid it is?"

Shepard then stares at the player.

"You!" Shepard growls. He stomps toward the screen, almost as if he would walk out of the TV. The player thought he was seeing things…he was wrong. The Commander Shepard, his Commander Shepard, was walking out of the TV as if walking out of a portal. Once his feet were planted on the carpet, a smell of old blood and dirt filled the room. His face was scarred and he was slightly hunched over, but then gained the strength to pick the player up from his chair, by his shirt collar.

The player could've sworn he messed his pants.

"What do you want?" The player stutters.

"In the Mass Effect games, the player chooses Commander Shepard's fate. My fate; so only you could be responsible for putting me in this poor excuse for an ending!" Shepard's voice was raspy, yet very intimidating.

Don't be confused, the player is in complete shock of what's going on, but when an N7 Specter is literally picking you up from the ground by the collar, there's not much time to really evaluate whether your dreaming or not.

"I thought you wanted me to build a home for Tali on Rannoch. You choose that dialogue option, didn't you?"

The player can only answer with a stutter.

"Answer!"

"I didn't write the ending, Bioware did."

"Of course," Brejon dropped the player on the ground. "My creators…" Shepard looked down at the player, who was breathing heavily and in the cradle position. "I'll leave you here to calm your nerves, while I talk to the people responsible."

* * *

-At Bioware-

An employee at Bioware, responsible of checking the forums, is checking to see if anyone is violating the rules. He takes a sip of his coffee until a portal is formed in the far corner of his office. Brejon Shepard enters the room and grabs the worker by the collar.

"Artistic vision my ass!"

So many things went through that poor employee's mind.

"How could you do this? All my player wanted was a good ending for me and here you go blowing it to hell. I mean seriously, Joker would never abandon me like that. He's my friend, my buddy. And did the Relays really have to be destroyed? Now all my friends will starve. You left both me and my player clueless."

"Ok-kay. Commander Shepard, I'm not in charge of writing the ending, I just check the forums. But I can tell you this. They just came out with the Extended Cut DLC. It will explain everything you want to know."

"….Alright." Shepard let go of the employee's collar. "I'll let my player know to download it for me." He then went to the portal he entered from.

Shepard the pointed his finger at the employee and pulled his thumb up. "But it better be good."

* * *

**What will Shepard think of the Extended Cut? Until next time…**


	2. Chapter 2

**Extended Cut, Extended Fury**

Shepard went back into the portal and back into the player's home.

The player was on his laptop, his PS3 off. He looked up at his Shepard and asked, "So what did they say?"

Shepard answered, "There this DLC called the 'Extended Cut'. Supposedly, it will give more closure for the question me and you have."

"Oh yeah, I heard about that. Although it won't change the ending, just 'tweak' it."

"Well that sucks." Shepard saw the player's laptop. "What are you looking at?"

"Just some video about the Indoctrination Theory."

"Indoctrination Theory?"

"Yeah, apparently people think that when you were hit with Harbinger's beam, it was actually an Indoctrination attempt and your talk with the Catalyst was really a fight against the attempt. A lot of people want this theory to be true, but I don't know why. That means that it would be all a dream and we didn't really get an ending just a cliffhanger. Bioware has been so damn tight-lipped about it, to the point where no one might ever know."

Shepard rubbed his chin and pondered. "…Wait, so why couldn't I just have a great final battle with Harbinger?"

The player face-palmed in grief, "I don't know…I just-don't-know….Anyway, let's download this." The player went to his the PS Store and went to the download.

Now to wait.

The player researched the DLC on his laptop. "Says here that we have to start from the Cerberus mission so that the DLC will take effect…And here it says that there's actually a fourth ending….That doesn't make sense, I thought they said this wouldn't change anything. I don't know Shepard, I think this is going to be big. They may change some things. Maybe…maybe this will shed some light on the Indoctrination Theory."

"In that case, we'll see how the Destroy ending changes in the Extended Cut, then play the fourth ending." Shepard said.

"Sounds like a plan. The download is done, get in."

"Alright, I hope it turns out well."

"Me too."

**[1 hour later]**

A portal formed from the TV again and Shepard came out with his fist clenched, eyes twitching, and a murder like expression in his eyes.

The player groaned in disappointment, "Well that blows the Indoctrination Theory and all hopes of a happy ending to hell. You okay Shepard?"

"I'll…be right back…" Shepard made another portal.

* * *

-At Bioware-

The forum employee was actually on his lunch break, eating a ham sandwich. Shepard once again came into the room from a portal.

The employee nearly choked on his sandwich in complete shock. "I told you, I don't do the writing!" He said cowering in fear.

"I don't want to talk to you, I want to talk to the writer."

"I'm sorry, but he's in a mee-"

"I don't give a pyjack's ass! I want to see him!"

"Okay, okay! He's in the conference room."

-Conference Room-

The peace and calm of the meeting was interrupted by Shepard going Renegade and kicking down the door.

The writer, along with every other member of the meeting were flabbergasted. "How did you?..."

"Don't ask. I broke the fourth wall somehow and I found out how much you screwed me over!"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't give me that. Your 16 endings were bullshit. Satisfaction, same thing."

"What about the closure the Extended Cut gave?"

"…Okay, that made things just a little bit better, but Joker still wouldn't leave, nor would any of my crew agree to leave. And the slide show was…meh. I guess all I have to ask is: Why didn't you have this in the first place? I'm sure players wouldn't mind if they had to wait longer, as long as the end result was fantastic."

"We wanted to leave some interpretation."

"You left TOO MUCH interpretation. You're leaving people scrambling around to prove a theory that's just a theory, which you still won't tell if it's fact or not. And I thought that with the Extended Cut, you'd explain what happened to me after the Destroy ending, but you still leave it as a cliffhanger."

"Technically, no. Remember, Tali didn't put your name on the memorial wall."

"Well then what happens after that?"

"That's up to the player's imagination."

Shepard looked at the writer in complete disbelief. "That's the laziest f***ing thing I've ever heard! You're telling me you couldn't at least put some kind of canon? And don't even get me started on the Refusal ending. That was a middle finger to me, my player and everyone else who was hoping their EMS would make a difference and you know it! What the f*** is wrong with you? You have the opportunity to redeem yourselves and instead you make it worse. Hell, even the Catalyst sounds more idiotic. His creators told him to solve the organic and synthetic conflict, so the best thing the Catalyst can think of is war? That doesn't make him as smart as he thinks he is. Why, why did you guys do this?"

"….Artistic vision?" The writer said slowly shrugging his shoulders.

A surge of anger went through Shepard and he felt like his player pressed the Renegade interrupt.

"I've had enough of your Artistic Vision Idealism." He made a punch for the writer, but he dodged it.

"Ha! I wrote that part, so of course I can dodge your pun-'' but the writer was interrupted as Shepard punched him into the wall and he slip down onto the floor.

"I came here to disapprove of what you've done, not take any of this bullshit. Stay down."

**[If you don't know that joke…what kind of Mass Effect fan are you?]**

Shepard then looked at the rest of the people in the meeting room. "And the rest of you…I hope you're proud of what you've done. To screwing over all the players that trusted you to end this trilogy with class. If you need to unleash an Extended Cut to explain your wrongs…you've already failed." Shepard went back into the portal.

* * *

-Back at the player's house-

"That's it, I'm done." Shepard said, entering back into the house. He slumped on ground.

"Don't give up man, there may be hope yet," the player said.

"Like what?"

"There's this new DLC called Leviathan." The player was on his keyboard. "It says here that your find a Reaper that kills other Reapers and that tweak the endings."

"We both know the last time they said they'd tweak the endings…"

"But it's a Reaper killing Reaper, which could seriously turn the tide."

"…Okay, one last time, one last time. This will be their last chance to redeem themselves: Otherwise…"

"Otherwise what?" the player asked nervously.

"….Just don't let me near a Cain…"

* * *

**Now I really am skeptical about this new DLC, but I'll still download it. But like my Shepard said, "This will be there last chance to redeem themselves." I'll add the new and last chapter as soon as I play it with the Destroy ending and Refusal ending. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Is Hope Lost?**

"So did you buy "Leviathan" yet?" Shepard asked. He had just walked out of the TV to see what was going on.

The player just said nonchalantly, while on his laptop, "I didn't buy it."

"Why not?"

The player rose his head, "I don't know if you realize, but I have no money to spend on DLC right now. Even if I did, I feel safer using a gift card."

"Why a gift card?"

"…It's a long story. Anyway, I looked it up online and it doesn't really change the ending, just adds some dialogue to the Crucible. Leviathan isn't even present in the final battle. Plus, the Catalyst seems even more evil than ever now."

Shepard fell to his knees, "So that's it then…this is how it ends for me? Are you there anymore DLC coming out?"

"Not "ending" changing DLC but there is an "Omega" DLC coming out."

"Nothing else though?" Shepard said, sounding very desperate.

"Nothing, sorry."

"…Dammit!" Shepard got up and punched the TV, completely ruining it.

The player's jaw dropped, "What the hell man? Do you have any idea how much that will cost?!"

"Sorry," Shepard said. "Here are some credits."

"That currency doesn't work in this universe!"

"Is there any conversion system?"

"You do realize this is the real world you're in, not the Mass Effect universe, right? I thought you broke the fourth wall, shouldn't you know that?"

"Well yeah, but I'm not perfect."

"Eh, whatever. I just have to find a way to pay this TV off and pay off my pre-order."

"For what game?"

"Assassin's Creed 3"

"Traitor…" Shepard folded his arms.

"Well I have to move on. I can't keep focusing on Mass Effect 3 forever. As much as I really want to, I've just given up."

"Oh well…I guess I'll just go back in the game which will collect dust," Shepard said in a depressed voice. He was about to walk slowly into the TV. Now the player felt bad. He didn't want his bad ass Shepard being depressed, he had to help him somehow.

"Wait!"

Shepard turned around.

"I know one way you can get a good ending, multiple actually."

"Really!" Shepard's expression brightens.

"Yeah, come here," the player waved. Shepard went behind the player to look at his laptop.

"Fan Fiction?" Shepard said after looking at the URL. "What's that?"

"It's a site where people can write stories based off of already existing properties. Sometimes the stories represent 'what if?' situations or things that fans wanted to see, but never did."

"Like closure to the ending?"

"Exactly, check this one out," the player clicked a story.

"Wings of Fire?" Shepard questioned.

"By Bahoogasmif."

"What kind of name is that?

"It's not his real name, it's his pen name."

"Oh…this story seems very long. I'll just use my omni-tool to help summarize this stories." The omni-tool scanned the computer. "Wow!"

"You like it? I've been reading it for a while. I'm trying to find time to finish it up."

"Hell yeah! I'm not dead in this one and I built Tali a home, just like I wanted." Shepard loved this.

"He's not the only one who's wrote a story for his Shepard, there are others. Thousands in fact."

"Well this one is amazing. Is he a Bioware writer?" Shepard asked.

"Nope."

"What? Are any of these stories written by Bioware writers?"

"…Not to my knowledge, and that's the amazing thing. A lot of them are just ordinary people who like to write. Who love Mass Effect and want to expand on that universe. It's the beauty of Fan Fiction."

"Then that's what you should do?"

"Do what?"

"Write me a story!"

"I don't know…"

"Come on, don't you care about me and Tali's future. Of all of my friend's future?"

"I do, but I'm already busy with other stories."

"Can't you squeeze it in?" Shepard pleaded.

"I guess…" The player said, giving in.

"Thank you!" Shepard, meaning to give the player a gentle jab to the shoulder, almost broke it since he was still wearing his armor.

There was an awkward silence between the two.

"So, are you gonna go back into the game?" The player asked.

"Not just yet, I want to see more of these stories." Shepard scanned around random stories.

"Anything catch you eye?"

"No…wait…in this one me and Garrus get really close…then we go into the captain's cabin and…Oh God! Garrus is a cool dude, but I wouldn't fuck the guy!"

"That's not meant to be you, that's someone else's Shepard."

"And another one that has another Shepard having a threesome with…woah…that's a lucky Shepard."

"Okay…" The player was starting to get a little freaked out by Shepard's fascination with all of the "lemons".

"And another one where Tali is a lesbian…pretty hot!

The player was taken aback by Shepard's comment, but not surprised; his Shepard was part Renegade anyway. And it's not like the player didn't fully disagree with Shepard's statement.

Shepard continued, "After seeing all these, I can't wait to see what you do with me in your story. You're still going to make it, right?"

"Yes! I will write you a good ending. Now can you please go back into the game? I think you caused enough damage for today."

"Sure thing, good luck with the story." Shepard went back into the portal.

"_Yeah," _the player thought. _"I'm going to need it."_

* * *

**Hopefully, I can get this new story on track sometime soon. Hope you enjoyed! And please people, do your part, and give your Shepard a better ending. :D  
**


End file.
